FYVIEWAR MEMORIAL

World War 1 Anniversary - 2014

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Fyvie War Memorial, centrally situated in the village and looking out over the valley of the Ythan.

Beautifully designed, dignified, and appropriate to its setting and to its meaning.

67 names - all young men in their prime - from a parish with a population at the time of some 3,500 of all ages. Some had already left Fyvie, for work or study, and some had emigrated to distant colonies, but their families wanted their names to be on this memorial, in this spot, because here were their roots.

Not one of them wanted to die, we can be certain. But every single one accepted that it might happen, and that it was, quite simply, their duty.

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When I was very young - primary school age in the 1950s - I passed this Memorial virtually every day. Each Remembrance Sunday, I watched the parade of the British Legion flags, and heard the Last Post echo over the Howe.

Of course, at that age, my understanding of the full meaning was very limited. As I grew older, what I wanted was to know more about those 67 names, to put flesh on the simple name/rank/unit inscribed on the panels.

Who were these men and their families ? How old were they ? What job had they chosen, before being drastically uprooted to lands of which they knew little, to endure a terrifying ordeal before, in their case, a brutal end to their young lives ?

With modern research methods, and motivated by the 100th anniversary in 2014 of the outbreak of the Great War, it has been possible to put together something which is, perhaps, inadequate, but is better than one line per man.

This document has been compiled from existing sources and some new researchby :

Arthur Groves Helen Taylorand

Text and Research Research and Photographs

Sources, thanks and acknowledgements :

- Commonwealth casualty information from the records of theCommonwealth War Graves Commission

- Birth, Marriage, Death and Census information from the National Recordsof Scotland

- Canadian casualty information from the Canadian Great War Project - Australian casualty information from the Australian War Memorial- Local casualty information from The War Book of Turriff and Twelve

Miles Round- Fyvie Heritage - old newspaper cuttings- Community Learning and Development Department, Gateway Centre,

Turriff - access vouchers for scotlandspeople.gov.uk- Aberdeenshire Archives - access to school records- William Carrol - personal family records- Ian Beaton - personal family records- Additional material from the Scottish War Memorials Project- Additional material from De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour- Additional material from the British Newspaper Archive at the British

Library

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The intention is that this will be a living document, modified as new information hopefully comes to light from family sources or other researchers. Please note therefore that this version is

VERSION FM_001.01 …. Published 1st October 2013

Any comments, corrections or supplementary information should be sent to fyvie50@orange.fr

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CONTENTS

The 67 men on the Fyvie Memorial - - - page 5

Fyvie casualties, not on Fyvie Memorial - - - page 32

Casualties, Fyvie Churchyard - - - page 34

The Memorial and its inauguration - - - page 36

Woodhead School War Memorial - - - page 37

The War Book of Turriff and Twelve Miles Round - - - page 38

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THE SIXTY – SEVEN

PANEL 1 (East)

1. Arthur Herbert Rosdew Burn

2nd Lieutenant in the 1st (Royal) Dragoons. Died early in the war on 29th October 1914. Commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres, because he had no known grave.

Eldest son of Col. Charles Rosdew Burn, MP for Torquay, and Ethel Louise Forbes-Leith, the daughter of Baron Alexander Leith of Fyvie. Charles Burn became in 1923 the 1st Baronet

Forbes-Leith of Fyvie. The war death of Arthur meant that in1930 the successor as 2nd Baronet was his younger brother Sir (Robert) Ian Forbes-Leith.

The date corresponds to the First Battle of Ypres, the town to which the British Expeditionary Force had retreated after being driven out of Antwerp. The British troops defended stubbornly until the end of that autumn's fighting in November 1914, and established the Ypres Salient to the east of the town. Ypres remained in Allied hands till the end of the War.

Arthur Burn was born in London on 30th June 1892, so he was 22 at the time of his death.

2. John Beaton

Gunner in the Royal Field Artillery, "B" Battery, 102nd Brigade, Service Number 144126. Served from 7th August 1916, and killed in action at Ypres on 5th August 1917. Buried in Poelcapelle British Cemetery, Belgium, about 10km north-east of Ypres heading towards Bruges. The cemetery is a very large one, laid out after the Armistice when graves were moved in from the surrounding battlefields and a large number of smaller cemeteries. 7,478 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War are buried or commemorated there, of which 6,231 are unidentified.

John Beaton was a farm worker, the son of George Beaton of West Monkshill, Fyvie. He was 26 years of age. His brother George also served, in a Mechanical Transport unit of the Royal Army Service Corps, because of his pre-war experience as a chauffeur. Enlisted early in 1916, he remained in uniform until late 1919, despite a period of serious illness in 1917.

3. Albert George Rutherford MackieGunner in the Royal Field Artillery, A Battery 91st Brigade, Service Number 167359. Died on 9th October 1917 and buried at Ruisseau Farm Cemetery, Belgium, a small cemetery on the edge of the town of Langemark, about 10km north of Ypres.The location and the date mean that he was a casualty in the First Battle of Passchendaele, effectively part of the 3rd Battle of Ypres. Third Ypres cost the British Expeditionary Force

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about 310,000 casualties, with about 260,000 casualties on the German side, for very little territorial gain.At the time of the 1911 Census, he was living in Aberdeen as a boarder while he pursued his school studies. Aged 22 at the time of his death, he was the son of Catherine Mackie, of Roseville, Fyvie, and the late Adam Mackie (died 1912).

4. Robert RothnieGunner in the Royal Field Artillery, D Battery 82nd Brigade, Service Number 125881. Died of wounds on 7th December 1917 and buried in Mendinghem British Cemetery, Belgium.The cemetery is at Poperinge to the north west of Ypres, in an area to which the wounded of the 3rd Battle of Ypres would have been evacuated. It contains over 2,300 British graves.Poperinge became famous as the home of Talbot House (Toc H), the rest and recreation club for all ranks founded by "Tubby" Clayton and others. The Toc H charity continued in London after the War, and still exists in a reduced form in 2013.Robert was born at Reimshill, Fyvie, and was the son of Catherine Rothnie of Turriff. A farm servant before his military service, he was 24 at the time of his death.

5. Alexander WoodLance-Corporal in the Royal Engineers, 95th Field Coy., Service Number 404214. Died on 24th May 1918 and buried in Bordighera British Cemetery, Italy.The cemetery is on the Mediterranean coast not far from the French border. Bordighera was the site of the 62nd General Hospital, one of many to which casualties were evacuated from the fighting between the British Army, with their Italian allies, and the Austrians. He had seen service in Salonika, but it is not recorded where he received his wounds.Before military service he was already in uniform, as a Police Constable. Alexander was the eldest son of Mr and Mrs William Wood, of Fetterletter, Fyvie, and was married to Mrs Elsie Wood (née Young), later of Inverurie. He was 25 at the time of his death. His brother Henry, farm servant, also fought with the Gordon Highlanders and returned safely.

6. William CarrolPrivate in the Scots Guards, 2nd Battalion, Service Number 16898. Killed in action on 30th March 1918, and commemorated on the Arras Memorial, France, because he had no known grave.Arras was much fought over in two World Wars, but the date of William's death indicates that he was a casualty of the German 1918 spring offensive. The Faubourg d'Amiens Cemetery, in which the Arras Memorial stands, has 2,000 identified graves, and the Memorial lists some 36,000 British and Commonwealth men who fell in this sector, but whose resting place could not be determined.William was the son of George Carrol, Back Hill, Fyvie, and was a farm servant before enlisting. We are privileged to have access to a personal letter which he wrote home to a cousin, on 29th June, 1917, while undergoing basic training at the Guards Depot at Caterham. Among his detailed comments on the life of a young soldier: "It will be about the end of

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September before we be ready to leave this and then we have a whiles training at London before we be ready for France and surely by that time the worst will be past." He was 20 years old when he was killed, 9 months after he wrote these words. Speaking of his brother George, he said "I had a letter from his wife today and she was speaking about nothing but poor Dod all through, I am sure she is missing him terrible ….. ". Although of course he never knew, George (3rd Gordon Highlanders, then Machine Gun Corps) survived to the end and returned to Fyvie.

7. John HarperPrivate in the Scots Guards, 1st Battalion, Service Number 8765. Died of wounds on 13th October 1915, and buried in the military cemetery of Sailly-Labourse, France.Sailly-Labourse Cemetery, just outside the town of Béthune, is relatively small with 126 World War 1 graves, and adjacent to what was for long periods an area of rest and hospital treatment. The October 1915 date, however, suggests a casualty of the nearby Loos battlefield.John Harper had been working as a farm servant in Huntly before the war. He was the son of Mrs Isabella Reid, Oldwood, Rothienorman. He died at the age of 25.

8. William HornePrivate in the Scots Guards, 1st Battalion, Service Number 15303. Died of wounds on 5th August 1917, and was buried in Etaples Military Cemetery, France.Etaples near the French coast was a massive British base throughout the war. Up to 100,000 troops were camped there, and 17 hospitals cared for up to 22,000 sick and wounded at any one time. The cemetery has over 10,000 identified graves. See further detail under Record No.44.William was the son of James and Mary Horne, North Tifty, Fyvie, and was a farmworker in Fyvie before his war service. He was 19 when he died.

9. James MurdochPrivate in the Royal Scots, 17th Battalion, Service Number 25533. Killed in action on 24th July 1916 and commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, France, with no known individual grave.The date suggests a casualty, not of the first assault on the Somme on 1st July, but in the many days of fighting which followed through to the autumn of 1916.James Murdoch was the son of William and Margaret Murdoch, with connections to Millbrex, and was an apprentice joiner before the war. When he was killed, he was 19 years old.

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10. Alexander ReidCorporal in the Royal Scots Fusiliers, 7th Battalion, Service Number 13725. Killed in action on 12th November 1915, and commemorated on the Loos Memorial, France. The Loos Memorial is dedicated to over 20,000 officers and men who fell in the sector, but have no known grave.Recorded as born in Logie, and with place of enlistment Dunfermline, but with no other personal information known.

Loos Memorial forms the walls and circular courts at the rear of Dud Corner Cemetery. The similarity in design to the memorial walls of Tyne Cot Cemetery is a result of both being

designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

11. Alexander MassiePrivate in the Devonshire Regiment, 1st Battalion, Service Number 31287. Killed in action on 6th November 1917 and buried in Hooge Crater Cemetery, Belgium. Originally a very small cemetery just outside Ypres (but in an area of frequent action) it became much larger when graves from many smaller cemeteries were concentrated there after the Armistice.A native of Fyvie, he was born at Cottown of Fetterletter and went to Woodhead School. Hispre-service occupation was as a gardener at Lupton, Torquay.

12. James Allardyce MathewsonPrivate in the King's Own Scottish Borderers, 1st Battalion, Service Number 18712. He died in Alexandria, Egypt, on 2nd September 1915, and is buried in the Alexandria (Chatby) Military Cemetery, where there are 2,259 graves from the First World War. Casualties were brought to Alexandria from a wide area of the Mediterranean theatre of war, but we do not know where James had served.He was the son of John and Isabella Mathewson, of Bridgend Cottage, Pitcaple, and was 22 at the time of his death. His younger brother William is also commemorated on the Fyvie Memorial, since he died at Vimy Ridge on 9th April 1917 (See Record No. 59).

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At the time of the 1911 census, James was a horseman at Collyhill Farm, Bourtrie, Aberdeenshire.

13. William S BurrPrivate in the Black Watch, 9th Battalion, Service No. S/4315. He was killed in action on 25th September 1915 and buried in Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, France, which is near the town of Arras and in the area of which Vimy Ridge is part. Private Burr is likely to have been reburied from another location, since his death predates the establishment of this cemetery; it later served as a collecting cemetery for reburial from many small locations; of over 7,650 graves, more than half are unidentified. The unusual name comes from a café which stood on the site until destroyed in 1915.He was born in Fyvie on 11th November 1895, and was 19 at the age of his death. His parents Alexander and Mary (née Murray) Burr, of Westertown, Wartle, would therefore have found every subsequent Armistice Day ceremony doubly poignant. Before the war he was working in the grocery trade, at Perk's Store (town not specified).

14. Charles G DavidsonPrivate in the Black Watch, 1st/6th Battalion, Service No. 41052. He was killed on 12th April, 1918, by airborne torpedo at a base camp and only a few days after arriving in France. It is likely that he died without even reaching the front line.He is buried in Lillers Communal Cemetery Extension, France. The small town of Lillers, not far from Béthune, was an administrative HQ and casualty clearing area throughout the war, and 894 Commonwealth dead were buried in the town cemetery. The reason for the additional 71 graves in the Extension is that by April 1918 the Germans had advanced so close to the town that use of the cemetery was dangerous, and graves had to be dug outside its boundary walls. Charles was the son of Thomas and Jessie Ann Davidson, of Banks, Fyvie, and had been a bank clerk in peacetime; he was 19 at the time of his death.

15. John MoirPrivate in the 2nd Battalion, Manchester Regiment, Service No. 375, killed in action on 20th October 1914. He is commemorated on the Le Touret Memorial to more than 13,400 men who fell in this sector south of the Béthune-Armentières road, and who have no known grave. The date suggests that he was a casualty of the Battle of La Bassée, a fiercely fought conflict of October/November 1914. Many of the units involved, including the 2nd Manchesters, were from the regular army, so it is possible that John Moir had been a professional soldier even before the outbreak of war.He was the son of Mrs B Chapman, Gariochsford Cottage, Rothienorman, and was 33 years old when he died.

16. Patrick FraserLance-Sergeant in 1st Battalion, Highland Light Infantry, Service No. 11442, killed in action on 18th March, 1915. He is commemorated on the Le Touret Memorial to more than 13,400

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men who fell in this sector south of the Béthune-Armentières road, and who have no known grave.The date and the place of burial suggest that Patrick Fraser went out to France in the earliest part of the War with the British Expeditionary Force. The fact that he was already an NCO in a regular battalion suggests that he may have been a regular soldier, although he might have been a reservist called up at the beginning of the conflict.He was the son of William and Margaret Fraser, of Woodhead, Fyvie, born in 1893, and 22 when he died.

17. Wilson T ClarkPrivate in the Highland Light Infantry, 16th Battalion, C Company, Service Number 27483. Killed in action on 14th April 1917. No known grave, recorded on one of the panels of the Thiepval Memorial.The village of Thiepval was one of the objectives of the Somme offensive of 1st July 1916, but it was not taken till some months later. The massive Thiepval Memorial now commemorates, on its many panels of names, more than 72,000 men who fell in the sector of the Somme but who have no known grave.Born in Strachan, Kincardine, by the time of the 1911 census he was working as a tailor assisting his father, John F Clark, Tailor & Clothier at Smollett's Buildings, Rothienorman. He was 23 at the time of his death.

18. Jack (John) MorrisonPrivate in the Highland Light Infantry, 2nd Battalion, Service Number 25334. Killed in action at Beaumont Hamel on 13th November 1916. No known grave, recorded on one of the panels of the Thiepval Memorial.Although it was a few months before the action in which Jack Morrison fell, the name of Beaumont Hamel is most remembered for the fighting on the first day of the Battle of the Somme involving the volunteers of the 1st Newfoundland Regiment - 733 out of 801 men were killed or wounded, and in the area there is now a memorial park still manned by young Canadians. On the same site can be seen the impressive memorial to the 51st (Highland) Division, constructed of blocks of granite from Rubislaw, Aberdeen, and bearing the famous inscription in Gaelic : La a'Blair s'math n Cairdean (On the day of battle, it is good to have friends).Son of John and Jeannie Morrison, of Woodhead, Fyvie, he was a Postmaster and Shoemaker, and 23 years old when he was killed.

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The 51st (Highland) Division Memorial, and its famous inscription

PANEL 2 (North)

19. George Campbell(Some record discrepancies, but identification virtually certain). Sergeant (or possibly Lance- Sergeant) in Gordon Highlanders, 1st/5th Battalion, Service No. 240646. Served in France from May 1915, wounded twice, and awarded the Military Medal. As a result of his wounds, died on 13th April, 1917 at No. 1 (Canadian) Casualty Clearing Station, and was buried in Aubigny Communal Cemetery Extension, France.His family home was at Windyhills, Fyvie, his parents were James and Barbara (née Black) and his early employment was as a baker. This did not last long, however, because he enlisted on 9th November 1914, and was only 21 at the time of his death. He was one of five brothers who all served during the conflict - the four others survived.

20. Peter (Pat) William MacAndrewPipe Sergeant in Gordon Highlanders, 2nd/5th Battalion, and London Scottish, 1st Battalion. Served in France and throughout the war from August 1914 to 1918. He died at home in Fyvie, as a result of illness contracted on service, on 12th December 1920.His job was as a clerk in Fyvie Estate Office, and he was 25 years old at the time of his death. Clearly, he came from a musical family, because his younger brother Hector went on to become famous as one of Scotland's leading fiddle players and composers.

21. Thomas Greig Duthie SimSergeant in the Gordon Highlanders, 2nd/5th Battalion, Service No. 240546. Died on 4th October 1917, no known grave, and commemorated on one of the panels of the Tyne Cot Memorial which is part of the Tyne Cot Cemetery at Passchendaele.While the Cemetery has 11,954 individual graves, the Memorial has the names of 33,783 UK soldiers plus 1,176 New Zealanders missing in the Ypres sector. It became necessary once it

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was realised that the Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres was not big enough to inscribe the names of all the missing. An inscription reads :

1914 - Here are recorded the names of officers and men of the armies of the British Empire who fell in Ypres Salient, but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death - 1918Any missing after 15th August 1917 - a quite arbitrary date - were inscribed on the Tyne Cot Memorial, not the Menin Gate, but both monuments are appropriately impressive.The War Diary of the 2nd/5th Gordon Highlanders - the daily manuscript record compiled by the Adjutant or other officer - records the events of the 4th October, 1917 : "At 3 a.m. the enemy shelled the forming up line and companies were ordered to close on the 8th Devon Regt. if necessary, this was not done. At 4.30 a.m. the enemy began an intense fire which was answered by our artillery ……… About 7.50 a.m. the Battalion moved forward to get close up to the barrage which had halted 200 yards in front of the 1st Objective. At 8.10 a.m. the barrage again moved forward closely followed by the Battalion driving everything before it, inflicting very heavy casualties …… the final objective on the Ridge of Nordemdhoek was reached at 9 a.m., with only 40 casualties. From this time the enemy commenced to shell heavily all along the line causing our casualties to increase considerably …….. Total casualties from 3rd to 8th Oct. ……. Other Ranks, Killed 46, Died of Wounds 4, Wounded 221, wounded remaining on duty 15, Missing 26. Total 12 Officers 312 ORs." (To put these numbers in context, full strength of a battalion was theoretically around 1,000, but by 1917 it could have been significantly lower.)

Thomas was born at Greenmyre, Fyvie, to Eliza May Sim on 2nd July 1896, so he was 21 at the date of his death. In civilian life he had been a blacksmith, and with sergeant's stripes at such a young age was clearly a natural leader.

The photo shows Tom with his grandmother Rose.

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22. Albert George StephensonLance-Sergeant in the Gordon Highlanders, 1st Battalion, Service No. S/43287. Died on 26th September 1917, no known grave, and commemorated on one of the panels of the Tyne Cot Memorial which is part of the Tyne Cot Cemetery at Passchendaele.He had already been wounded in action in April 1917, and this time was the victim of enemy shelling after the advance to Zonnebeke, "somewhere near St. Joseph's Institute", in the sector between Ypres and Tyne Cot.The date of 26th September 1917 is that of the Battle of Polygon Wood, a major engagement of the Third Battle of Ypres involving 9 British and Australian divisions, something over 100,000 men. On the day, the 1st Gordons were part of the 76th Brigade, 3rd Division, with the other battalions in the brigade being the 8th King's Own, the 2nd Suffolks and the 10th Royal Welch Fusiliers. A location near the Zorgcentrum St Jozef suggests an incident quite late in the day, after fighting forward over a considerable distance.It is recorded that he was the son of George and Ellen Stephenson, of 7 Union Grove, Fraserburgh, and that he was a student before the war. He was 19 when he was killed.

23. William CassieCorporal in 1st Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, Service Number S/43343. Killed in action on 17th December 1917, and buried in Ervillers Military Cemetery, France.Ervillers is a particularly small cemetery, with only 67 graves. The village was not captured by Commonwealth troops until March 1917 (then lost and recaptured in subsequent fighting in 1918). The cemetery was started by the Germans, and taken over by Commonwealth forces; over 100 German graves were removed after the Armistice.Born at Backhill, Fyvie, William Cassie's occupation was Farm Servant and he was 19 when he died.

24. Peter BeatonLance Corporal in 2nd Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, Service Number 2863139, died 19th October 1920 in Maryhill Barracks, Glasgow, and is buried in Fyvie Parish Churchyard. He is recorded as having served in France and Germany, but there is no detail of the actions in which he was involved. His death certificate shows cause of death as cerebral abscess, but without stating whether this was the result of previous wounds or gas.He had previously worked as a dryster (kiln attendant) at the Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society Mills, Fyvie, but his death certificate gives him as a carpenter. Son of Alexander Beaton (Joiner) and wife Margaret, of Bridgend, Fyvie, he was 20 at the time of his death.

25. Lockhart B GordonLance-Corporal in 5th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, Service Number S/43067. Died as a result of wounds received in the Battle of the Somme, on 28th October 1916, and buried in Fyvie Parish Churchyard.Born at Fyvie, the son of Mrs Jessie Ward, and only 18 at the time of death. Before the War, he was living at Greenmyre, Fyvie, with his grandparents Lockhart and Mary Brown, and he was an Estate Labourer at Fyvie Castle.

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26. Robert SmithLance Corporal in 6th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, Service Number 266286. Died on 23rd November 1917 and listed on the Cambrai Memorial at Louverval, France.The Cambrai Memorial commemorates more than 7,000 men who died in the Battle of Cambrai in November and December 1917, and who have no known grave. The Battle represented a new type of attack, a sudden attack at an unexpected point. There was no preceding artillery bombardment; instead tanks were used to break through the wire, followed by the infantry under cover of smoke. Although only partially a success, much was learned and used in later actions.He was the son of Mary Ann Smith, of Crannabog Cottage, Rothienorman, and Arthur Smith. He died at the age of 25. Two brothers also gave their lives in the War, and all three are listed on the family gravestone in Fyvie Churchyard. Alexander is Record No. 42 below, Peter (also Gordon Highlanders, and Military Medal) is likely to be commemorated in another place.

27. John AndrewPrivate in A Company, 1st Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, Service No. S/42255. Died on 27th September, 1918, and buried in Lowrie Cemetery, Havrincourt, France. Lowrie is a small cemetery in the Cambrai sector, with only 251 burials. The village of Havrincourt changed hands several times in the fighting of 1917 - 1918, but the date of John's death places it in the preparatory period for the major battle at Cambrai between 8th and 10th October 1918. In the last few weeks of the war, it was a battle demonstrating the way war had evolved into fast and decisive encounters, notably using large numbers of tanks.

A farmworker before enlistment, he was the son of James and Isabella Andrew, Gourdas Cottage, Fyvie, and the family gravestone in Fyvie churchyard tells the tale of how poignant his death in action must have been - with one brother and two sisters already dead in infancy/childhood, his death at the age of 18 must have been a sad extra blow to his parents.

28. Alex CruickshankThe Commonwealth War Graves Commission lists 6 men who have matching names and originated in Aberdeenshire or (in one case) Banffshire, and who were also Privates in the Gordons. Without further detail, positive identification is not possible.One of the more likely is the Alexander Cruickshank, Private in the 6th/7th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, Service No. S/19119, killed on 13th October 1918 and buried in Avesnes-Le-Sec

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Communal Cemetery Extension. His parents were William and Mary Cruickshank, of Castle of Auchry, Turriff, and he was 20 when he died.

29. Charles FraserPrivate in the 1st/5th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, Service No. 240437. Killed in action on 30th July 1916 and listed on one of the panels of the immense Thiepval Memorial.Although there are bigger cemeteries than the one that surrounds the Thiepval Memorial, the structure itself is one of the largest of the battlefield monuments. It stands on a ridge which is clearly visible from the main road from Bapaume to Albert, and lists the names of 72,203 men from the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector but were recorded as missing, with no known grave. The monument was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, the architect who was also responsible for the Cenotaph in London, and built between 1928 and 1932.

Thiepval Memorial - with the names of 72,203 missing in the Somme sector

The village of Thiepval was a primary objective of the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 1st July 1916, but it was not in fact taken until September, and the Somme offensive as a whole did not end until the start of winter in November 1916.Charles Fraser was born in Banchory and educated in Peterhead, then lived with his parents at Parkburn, Fyvie, where at the age of 15 he was employed as an Assistant Forester. He was 20 years old at the date of death.

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30. John GealsPrivate in the 6th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, Service No. 11475. An early death in the war, on 28th December 1914, after contracting measles then pneumonia in the measles epidemic of that winter, while he was still under training. He is buried in Bedford Cemetery, Bedford, England, along with 150 other casualties of the First World War and some from later conflicts.In that first autumn of the War, some 17,500 troops from Scottish regiments were quartered in and around Bedford. From October 1914 till early January 1915, 416 cases of measles were confirmed, of which 27 resulted in death. It was reported that troops from areas of Scotland where measles was uncommon, such as the Cameronians from the Western Isles, were particularly susceptible. Exaggerated reports of a massive epidemic started to filter back to Scotland, and after a period the government published the true figures to stop the panic.John was the son of James and Harriet Geals, a farm servant, and only 17 when he died.

31. James GrantPrivate, 2nd Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, Service No. S/9695. Killed when a shell hit his trench position on 27th November 1916, and commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.He was born at Daviot, the son of James and Mary Grant. Before the war, 15 years of age at the time of the 1911 census, he was a cattleman working for brothers John and Peter Donald on Lethen Farm, Fyvie. He was 20 when he died.

32. George HendersonCorporal, 1st/5th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, Service No. 240535. Wounded at Passchendaele on 16th August 1917, and died at Casualty Clearing Station No. 47. He is buried in Dozinghem Military Cemetery, the burial ground associated with this CCSDozinghem, although it indeed looks Flemish, is not a real place. Like Mendinghem and Bandaghem, the CCS was baptised in a jocular way by the British troops to reflect its medical activity (dosing, mending, bandaging). When the cemeteries were officially named after the War, the names were retained, but no village of Dozinghem will be found on a map of Belgium.Born in Newmachar, but brought up in Millbrex, Fyvie, he was a farmworker before enlistment, and was 21 years of age when he died.

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33. Harry Howie MatthewPrivate in the 1st/5th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, Service No. 2269. Died on the 20th March 1916 and buried in Ecoivres Military Cemetery, Mont St. Eloi, France. This cemetery in the Arras/Vimy sector contains 1,726 identified graves, predominantly Canadian, and the eight which are of Gordon Highlanders casualties were moved in after the Armistice, having originally been buried in March 1916 in what became Bray Cemetery.He was the son of Alexander and Jessie Matthew, of Lethenty, Fyvie, and was in peacetime a horseman on Hill of Petty Farm, Fyvie. He was 22 when he died.

34. Frederick William MilnePrivate, 1st/4th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, Service No. 3185. Killed in action at Hooge on 2nd October 1915, and commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres – no known grave.He had already fought safely through the Battle of Loos in the month preceding his death. The small village of Hooge lies only 3km outside Ypres on the Menin Road, and was completely obliterated during various stages of fighting in the Ypres Salient. It was just along the road from the notorious Hell Fire Corner, a crossroads where troops and supplies moving up the line were exposed to fire from higher positions.Frederick was the son of Sarah Milne, née Smith, widow of George Smith of Andrewsford, Fyvie, and Little Gight. He had started his studies as a Medical Student before the war, and was nearly 19 when he was killed.

35. James PennyPrivate in the 1st/5th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, Service No. 3071. Died as a result of wounds on 13th November 1916 at Beaumont Hamel and buried in Hawthorn Ridge Cemetery No. 2, Auchonvillers. The cemetery is situated within the boundaries of the Newfoundland Memorial Park, the whole area of which gives a clear idea of the immensity of the battle on 1st July, 1916, and of the sacrifice of the Newfoundland Regiment on that day. See also Record No. 18 above, for the 51st (Highland) Division Memorial.James was the son of James and Mary Penny, of Fraserburgh, and was married to Annie Reid Penny, née Clark, of Craiglea, Fyvie. He was a saddler by trade, living at Little Hillies, Fyvie, and 34 when he died. Unusually – because many of the fallen were much younger men – he was survived by 3 children : Alexander born in 1907, James born in 1909, and Mary Taylor Penny born in 1912.

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This photo shows Château Wood during the Third Battle of Ypres in 1917, but most areas of the front were similar in devastation and difficulty of movement. The deep and extensive mud

partially explains why so many bodies were not recovered for burial.

36. John Davidson PrattPrivate, 7th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, Service No. 202051. Died on 22nd March 1918, near the village of Beaumetz, near Cambrai, France, and commemorated on the Arras Memorial.He was the son of William Pratt, of Backhill, Fyvie, and was a farm servant before enlistment. His brother Joseph Alexander Pratt was also in the Gordons, 5th Battalion, but the war ended before he could be sent to the front. At the time of his death, John was 22.

37. William W ReidPrivate, 1st/5th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, Service No. 3625. Killed at Beaumont Hamel on 13th November 1916, and buried in Y Ravine Cemetery, Beaumont Hamel.This is another cemetery which lies within the perimeter of the Newfoundland Park (see Records No. 18 and 35), where it is still possible to appreciate the difficulty of the terrain over which the British and Commonwealth troops were obliged to attack.His peacetime job was farm servant.

38. John Riddell(Probable but not certain identification) Private, 1st/6th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, Service No. 266902. Died on 9th April 1917 and was buried in Roclincourt Military Cemetery, France.

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This cemetery, just off the Arras – Lens road, was started by the 51st (Highland) Division in April 1917. John Riddell's date of death, 9th April 1917, is inscribed on no fewer than 127 of the 884 identified graves – it was the first day of the Battle of Arras and the toll on the Highland Regiments was heavy.He was born in Banff, and had been working as a horseman at East Cammaloun, Fyvie, before the war. He was 29 when he died.

39. Robert Park RosePrivate in the Gordon Highlanders, 4th Reserve Battalion, D Company, Service Number 202255. He died at home in Fyvie on 14th November 1918, after serving through the greater part of the war. He served from the 4th August 1914, and was wounded twice at Arras in1917.The Battle of Arras in April/May 1917 was a British and Allied offensive aimed at breaking the stalemate. Fierce fighting took place, among other places, at the Vimy Ridge where the Canadian National Monument now stands. Although advances were made, Arras did not result in the hoped-for breakthrough.Robert's trade was shoemaking, and he was 24 at the time of his death. He is buried in Fyvie Parish Churchyard.

40. Edwin SharpPrivate, 1st/4th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, Service No. S/24204. Died as a result of cerebro-spinal meningitis on 25th June 1919 near Dürer, in Germany, and buried in Cologne Southern Cemetery.He was the son of Arthur Sharp and Jane (née Rennie) Sharp of Backhill of Fetterletter, Fyvie (later of Longcroft, Fyvie), and he was one of four brothers who joined up. William served with the Australian Imperial Forces from 1915-1919. Arthur served in the Gordon Highlanders throughout virtually the whole of the conflict, was wounded twice, and awarded the Military Medal. George also survived four years of fighting, despite gunshot wounds, diphtheria and blood poisoning.Edwin, the brother who did not return to his work on the farm, was 21 when he died.

41. William SimpsonPrivate, 5th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, Service No. 3469, died on 1st August 1916 and is buried in Heilly Station Cemetery near the village of Méricourt-L'Abbé about 10km south- west of Albert. Three separate Casualty Clearing Stations (36th, 38th and 2/2nd London) were based in the village in 1916-1917, and the cemetery was established for that reason.The CWGC records note one unusual feature of this cemetery : The burials in this cemetery were carried out under extreme pressure and many of the graves are either too close together to be marked individually, or they contain multiple burials. Some headstones carry as many as three sets of casualty details, and in these cases regimental badges have had to be omitted. Instead, these badges, 117 in all, have been carved on a cloister wall on the north side of the cemetery.

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William Simpson was the son of Alexander and Margaret Simpson, of Woodhead, Fyvie, and was 21 years of age when he died. He is mentioned on his parents' gravestone in Fyvie Parish Churchyard, and also on the Millbrex War Memorial and the Woodhead Memorial Tablet.

42. Alexander SmithThere are two possible identifications for this Memorial entry. The more likely is :Private, 4th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, Service No. 266301. Died on 19th July 1918 and buried in Marfaux British Cemetery.It is likely that he was killed during the fierce fighting which enabled the 51st (Highland) Division (and others) to retake the village of Marfaux on 23rd July. His burial may have been transferred, after the Armistice, from the smaller temporary cemetery of Bois-D'Aulnay to the south-west, since there is a record of this happening to 22 burials of 51st HD.

We know from the family gravestone in Fyvie Churchyard that Alexander was one of three brothers, all Gordons, killed in the War. Robert is Record No. 26 above and Peter is not on the Fyvie Memorial, having moved away from the village.The men were the sons of Arthur and Mary Smith, of Rothienorman, and Alexander was 29 when he died.However, there is a possibility that this Alexander Smith is the one commemorated on the Inverurie War Memorial, making it less likely that he is also on the Fyvie Memorial. In this case, the identification may be with the A. Smith who is one of the mysteries of the War Book of Turriff and Twelve Miles Round - see page 33 below.

It is hoped that further information from family sources or from other researchers may eventually solve the problem.

43. William SmithPrivate, 1st/5th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, Service No. 3247, killed on the 13th November 1916 and buried in Serre Road Cemetery No. 1, France.The date corresponds to the second attempt, by the combined 3rd and 31st Divisions, to capture the village of Serre – the first attempt had failed on 1st July 1916, the "first day on the Somme".Son of William and Wilhelmina Smith of Woodhead, Fyvie, he was only 18 when he died.

44. John WattPrivate, 1st/4th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, Service No. 4505, died on the 4th December 1916 and buried in Etaples Military Cemetery, France.Throughout the War, huge numbers of troops were concentrated around Etaples, on the cost 27km south of Boulogne. It was sufficiently far from the front line to be safe from attack or

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shelling, and was therefore the main centre for training camps, rest areas, hospitals and convalescent centres. Alongside up to 100,000 troops camped in the sand dunes, there were 17 hospitals. It was therefore sadly inevitable that there was also a very large cemetery, with 10,816 Commonwealth burials from the First World War. Because of the nature of the cemetery, associated with hospitals where men had already been registered, only 35 graves are unidentified, compared with the high percentage in the other major cemeteries.John Watt was the son of Alexander Gordon Watt and Annie Stephen Watt of Station Cottage, Fyvie, and was a Sawmill Labourer by trade. He died at the age of 23.

45. George WillPrivate, 1st/5th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, Service No. 2198, died on 20th August 1915 and buried in Becourt Military Cemetery, Becordel-Becourt, France.

This is a relatively small cemetery, just outside the town of Albert – the cemetery was begun by the 51st (Highland) Division. Albert was a town very well known to British troops, and became famous for the golden statue of the Virgin Mary on top of the Basilica. When the church was badly damaged by shelling in the early months of the war, the statue tilted over to an impossible angle, but stayed attached. The legend grew up that the town would not be captured as long as it stayed that way, so naturally the French engineers did the necessary work. In fact, it lasted till the last months of the war, when the town fell into German hands – British artillery took out the tower because they knew all too well what a good observation point it was.

Before the War, George was a cattleman on John Strachan's farm at Cardenwell, and he was 19 years of age when he died.

Postcard of the period, showing the extent of the shelling damage to the Albert Basilica, and the statue hanging on precariously

46. Charles WilsonPrivate, 1st/4th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, Service No. 202766, died as a result of wounds 15th April 1917. He had been wounded twice previously; he was buried in theChurch Cemetery of St. Peter and St. Paul, West Clandon (a town near Guildford to the south-west of London, where presumably he was being treated for his wounds).

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He is recorded as having served in France from 1915-1917, but with no detail on the exact sector. His pre-war employment was as an Asylum Attendant, and he was 25 years of age when he died.The family gravestone in Fyvie Churchyard gives an idea of the sadness of the lives of this family. William Wilson was a shoemaker at St. Katherine's, Fyvie – he had three children with his first wife Elizabeth (née Clark), who all died in infancy before Elizabeth also died in 1877 at the age of 38. He remarried in 1879, Margaret (née Paterson) and his only son Charles was born in 1891. William Wilson himself died in 1912, so he was spared the knowledge that his son lived only to the age of 25 before becoming a casualty of war.

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PANEL 3 (West)

47. Charles MitchellCorporal in the Seaforth Highlanders, 8th Battalion, Service No. S/7985. Wounded in the Battle of the Somme in October 1916, and killed in the Battle of Arras 23rd April 917. He is buried in the small Guemappe British Cemetery at Wancourt, a village about 8 km south-east of Arras. It contains 169 burials from World War I, of which 6 are unidentifiedThe village of Wancourt changed hands several times in the second half of the war. The date given is shortly after the major fighting on Vimy Ridge, a little further to the north, and the action which cost the life of Charles Mitchell would have been part of the general big offensive of spring 1917.Before the war, Charles had been a tram conductor in Edinburgh. He was the foster son of Mr J Mathieson, Cross of Jackson, Rothienorman, whose grandson Alexander Mathieson is also commemorated on the Fyvie Memorial (See Record No. 58).

48. Charles GilesPrivate, 9th Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders, Service No. S/21605, killed on 21st July 1917 and buried in Coxyde Military Cemetery.This cemetery is in Belgium, and right down near the coast behind the last 6km of trenches which stretched from the Swiss border to the North Sea. The sector was taken over by Commonwealth troops, relieving French troops, in June 1917. Because the village of Coxyde (now Koksijde) was 10km back from the front line, the cemetery was fairly safe from shelling, and especially at night the dead brought back from the trenches were buried there – 1,507 Commonwealth burials from the First World War in all. The cemetery had to be used again during the Second World War, during the operation of withdrawal to Dunkirk.Charles Giles was the son of Charles and Elizabeth Giles, Manse of Forglen, Turriff – he was himself born in another manse, at Millbrex, Fyvie. He was 19 at the time of his death.

49. John Victor GrantPrivate, 1st Battalion, Cameron Highlanders, Service No. 7940, died on 11th November 1914, very early in the War. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres. As with Arthur Burn (Record No. 1) he was clearly involved in the First Battle of Ypres, which established the Ypres Salient for the whole of the War.He was born in 1887 in Rothienorman. His parents were James and Jessie (née Kennedy) Grant, of East Lodge, Rothienorman, where his father was Head Gardener. John himself was employed as a footman at Rothienorman House. He was 27 when he was killed.

50. David James Shirras Stephen, M.D.Captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps, 54th Field Ambulance. Died on 24th October 1917, from gas poisoning – “having neglected to take precautions in the adjustment of his gas-mask while attending to a wounded officer” - in the Battle of Passchendaele, and buried in Mendinghem Cemetery.

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Twice Mentioned in Despatches, awarded the Military Cross for "conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in attending to the wounded under heavy shell fire" and a bar to the MC for further gallantry in the field.Born at Fyvie, where his father Alexander Stephen was a draper at Ashgrove, in 1888, he was educated at Fyvie School, then Robert Gordon's College, before graduating in medicine from Aberdeen University in 1910 and 1912, and going into general practice. He served with the BEF in France from March 1915, and was 29 at the time of his death.

51. George WilsonPrivate in the 2nd/1st Battalion Scottish Horse, Service No. 150123. Saw service in Egypt and was wounded in action in 1915, before dying of acute pneumonia in hospital in Cupar, Fife, on 28th May 1918.He is buried in Fyvie Parish Churchyard, because Fyvie was his birthplace. The son of William and Elizabeth Wilson, of Backhill, he was one of five brothers and sisters who served during the War. He was a grocer's assistant in Edinburgh well before the war, in 1891. He was unmarried, and one of the older casualties at the age of 43.

52. William AndersonSecond Lieutenant, 1st Battalion, Lovat Scouts. Died on 4th June 1917 and buried in the Faubourg d'Amiens Cemetery in Arras, France.The British and Commonwealth section of this cemetery was begun in March 1916, behind the French military cemetery established earlier. It continued to be used by field ambulances and fighting units until November 1918. The cemetery contains over 2,650 Commonwealth burials of the First World War. The graves in the French military cemetery were removed after the war to other burial grounds and the land they had occupied was used for the construction of the Arras Memorial and Arras Flying Services Memorial.

The location of his grave and the date of his death suggest that he was a casualty of the Second Battle of Messines, which resulted in the capture of the important Messines Ridge, but which cost the British and Commonwealth forces 24,562 casualties in the first 12 days of June1917.

William Anderson was born in Fyvie and was the son of William and Lizzie Anderson, farming at Saphock, Fyvie. Before the war he was an Agricultural Student, and he was 24 when he died.

53. Jack Theodore CampbellCorporal, 15th Battalion, Tank Corps, Service No. 307799, killed in action at Cambrai 26th September 1918, a late casualty of the war. Buried in Hermies Hill British Cemetery, one of many in the Pas-de-Calais.Before moving to the Tank Corps, he had served in the Highland Light Infantry, Service No. 54422, and had been awarded the Military Medal.

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He was killed during the second capture of Cambrai. Tanks were a very new weapon of warfare, not seen at all until late 1916, so Jack Campbell and his comrades were fighting a different and challenging type of battle.Born at Fyvie, the son of John and Annie Mary Campbell (later of Montrose), he had started work at Morton's Preserving Works in Aberdeen before the War. He was only 20 when he met his death.

54. William Cassie WrightWireless Operator in the Mercantile Marine. War service earned him a place in the Roll of Honour and on the Fyvie Memorial after he was lost at sea when his ship the "Joseph Davis" went down with the loss of 25 lives off the coast of Brittany on 10th February 1919.As the only representative of the Mercantile Marine, his presence on the Memorial reminds us of the losses in that service during the War, when enemy submarines sank over 6,000 Allied and neutral merchant vessels.William Wright was born in Ayr, in 1899, but his mother came from Cloverycrook, Fyvie, and in 1911 the family were back at Percy Villas in Fyvie, where William was at school. He is mentioned (but with a date error) on the family gravestone in Fyvie Churchyard. He was 19 at the time of his death.(Note : William Cassie Wright is not to be confused with William Wright, a private in the Gordon Highlanders, who has a CWGC-type gravestone in Fyvie Churchyard, but who is not mentioned on Fyvie War Memorial.)

In the early years of the 20th century, many young Scots emigrated to start a new life in the countries of the Empire. The following 8 names on Fyvie Memorial are of men who died while serving with Canadian forces.

55. Alexander BurnettSergeant in the 43rd Battalion, Canadian Infantry, Service No. 859378. Died on 1st October 1918, and commemorated on the Vimy Memorial. Although it is not inscribed on the Fyvie Memorial, or noted in the War Book of Turriff & 12 Miles Round, the records show that he was awarded the Military Medal. The War Book of Turriff & 12 Miles Round does not even record that he was killed.He was born in Aberdeen, his widow Jessie Burnett lived in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The reason for the Fyvie connection is not yet established. His civilian occupation was Fireman, but he had also spent 10 years in the Naval Reserve. He was 34 when he died after war service of nearly three years.

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56. George Matthew PirieSergeant in the Canadian Infantry, 8th Battalion, Service No. 460881, he was killed on Passchendaele Ridge on 10th November 1917 and has his grave in Tyne Cot Cemetery. His peacetime occupation was traction engine attendant/ transport driver.His next of kin was his mother Mrs Christina Pirie, living at Bairnsdale, Fyvie, and he died at the age of 23.

Tyne Cot Cemetery and Memorial - see Record No.21 for detail

57. John CowiePrivate in the 2nd Battalion, Canadian Mounted Rifles, Service No. 706635. Missing presumed killed on 30th October 1917, another casualty of the Third Battle of Ypres, with his name inscribed on the Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres.To this day, almost a century on, all movement stops at the gate for the daily sunset ceremony of a lone bugler and the Last Post.John Cowie had emigrated to British Columbia in the far west of Canada, where he worked as a bank clerk. He was the son of George and Christian Cowie, of Home Farm, Rothienorman, and died at the age of 21.

58. Alexander MathiesonPrivate in the 16th Battalion, Canadian Infantry, Service No. 700132, missing presumed killed on 9th October 1916 and commemorated on the Vimy Memorial.He was born in 1894 in Kintore and emigrated to Canada to farm in Winnipeg, Manitoba. His listed next of kin was his grandfather James Mathieson, Cross of Jackston, Rothienorman, Aberdeenshire – who was mentioned above as the foster father of Charles Mitchell (Record No. 47). He was 22 when he died.

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59. William Milne MathewsonPrivate in the 10th Battalion, Canadian Infantry, Service No. 81564, killed in action on 9th April 1917 and buried in Nine Elms Military Cemetery, Thelus, France.He was killed in the battle for Vimy Ridge. The cemetery of nearly 700 casualties (535 identified) was begun immediately after the capture of the Ridge, but 10th Battalion casualties would have been moved in from other burial areas after the Armistice.William Mathewson was born in Fyvie, the son of John and Isabella Mathewson (later addresses quoted are Knowelea, Wartle, Aberdeenshire and Bridgend Cottage, Pitcaple). He was 20 when he enlisted and 22 when he died. His peacetime occupation was farming in Winnipeg, Manitoba; his brother James (Record No. 12 above) also died in the War and is commemorated on the Fyvie Memorial.

60. Andrew Paterson ReidPrivate in the 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles Battalion, Service No. 106503, died 7th June 1916, buried in Harlebeke New British Cemetery, Belgium. The village of Harlebeke is some distance (32km) east of Ypres, and was not captured until the last few weeks of the War. The cemetery was then established with many graves moved in from elsewhere, including some from much earlier. It is possible that he was initially buried by enemy troops, since after first being posted missing, he was officially reported as "died of wounds whilst prisoner"He was the son of Thomas and Jane (née Paterson) Reid, of Granitehouse, Rothienorman, and was 27 when he died.

61. Gordon RobertsonPrivate in the 27th Battalion, Canadian Infantry, Service No. 150561. Missing, presumed killed, on September 15th 1916, and commemorated on the Vimy Memorial.The dramatic Vimy Memorial to the Canadian missing stands on top of Vimy Ridge, dominating an area which saw much fighting involving Canadian Units. The woodland areas below include preserved sections of trench and land showing the multiple craters of intensive shelling.

Detail of the Canadian Monument to the Missing, Vimy

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Gordon Robertson was born in Fyvie, where he was still working as a horseman at Westertown in 1911, and emigrated to become a farmer in Manitoba, Canada. His sister, listed as next-of-kin, lived at Brawlandknowes, Gartly. He was 23 when he died.

62. Andrew WesleyPrivate in the 31st Battalion, Canadian Infantry, Service No. 150694. Died on November 6th 1917, and buried in Tyne Cot Cemetery. This was the Passchendaele Ridge fighting of the Third Battle of Ypres, where George Pirie (Record No. 56) also died, along with many others.In the notes compiled for the War Book of Turriff and Twelve Miles Round, his family records that after arriving in France in June 1916 he did not have a single day of rest until he got 14 days' leave in October 1917. On the first day after his return, he was detailed not to rejoin his own regiment but to go out with stretcher parties into the waist-deep mud of Passchendaele to recover casualties – he was killed when a high explosive shell burst overhead.Born in Fyvie in 1894, he was the youngest of 9 children of Andrew and Ann (née Paterson) Wesley, of The Bungalow, Southwells, Rothienorman. He was a farmer in Manitoba, but presumably had not long emigrated, since he joined up aged 21 and died aged 23.

For the same reasons as for Canada, Australia and New Zealand were attractive destinations for young men in the early years of the 20th century. The last five men on the Fyvie Memorial had already put down roots in these distant colonies.

63. James KennedyGunner in the 4th Medium Trench Mortar Battery, Australian Field Artillery, Service No. 1636. Died on 6th September, 1918 in a hospital in England, suffering from dysentery contracted in France. He is buried in Nellfield Cemetery, Aberdeen.He was described as having been a marksman "of exceptional merit" before the war, so he may have been a regular soldier. He was the son of John and Barbara Kennedy, and married to Helen Robertson Kennedy of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. James himself was born in Turriff, but his mother was born in Fyvie.

64. Alexander Fiddes GreigThis was a particularly difficult identification, because the known details did not correspond to any one individual. This was eventually resolved when it was established that the same man has two completely different military records. Alexander's grandfather (the same name,

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Alexander Fiddes Greig) was the doctor in Fyvie in the middle of the 19th century. One of his sons, Peter Cormack Greig, emigrated to Australia where he met his wife Ada McKellar, the daugher of Scottish immigrants. One of their sons was Alexander, born in Sydney on 3rd May1895.The next part of his story is not strictly relevant to his military career, but it is an exceptional tale which should be recorded. In October 1908 the family were living in a Government sponsored settlement on the island of Santo, in the New Hebrides, where Ada the mother had sadly died 2 years previously. One evening, they were attacked by a band of natives with guns and axes. Alexander's father and two of his sisters were brutally killed, and the house was ransacked for anything of value. It was 14-year-old Alexander, who had been some distance from the house looking after livestock, who discovered the carnage, or at least at first his sisters, since his father's body had been dragged some distance away and roughly hidden. He then waited till morning, hoping his father would turn up, before walking to the nearest township to seek help.Soon after this Alexander returned to Scotland; two younger siblings, who had been at school in Australia at the time of the massacre, may have stayed in Australia. But in 1911, Alexander was back at Sunnyside, Fyvie, living with his grandmother, aunt and uncle, and pursuing his studies.In 1913 he was recorded in Aberdeen, enlisting in the Gordon Highlanders (he was already a private in a Territorial battalion). At this point he is Private, 1st/5th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, Service No. 1277. After service in the UK he went to France in October 1914, but he had a number of medical problems which led to him being returned to the UK after 2 months, and discharged as medically unfit in 1915. He is recorded as planning to return to Mains of Fyvie, although his previous trade in 1913 had been gardener. At this point we lose sight of his movements, but clearly at some point he goes back into uniform with the Australian Army - it is not known whether he went back to Sydney before doing this, or whether he found a way to enlist in Europe. From now on, his second army record shows that he is Alexander Fiddes Greig, Private, 1st Pioneer Battalion, Australian Army, Service No. 3953. He died on 22nd July 1917 and was buried in Fovant (St. George) Churchyard in Wiltshire.There was a 600 bed hutted hospital near by during the War, for the treatment of sick and wounded men, and 64 military graves in the churchyard. Alexander Greig was still only 22 when he died.There are unanswered questions about his double period of service, but the very precise names of his parents, and his date of birth, make the identification certain.

65. Angus Wedderburn MathewsonPrivate in the Australian Infantry, Australian Imperial Force, 49th Battalion, Service No. 3865. Died on 13th August 1916, no individual grave but listed on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, France.The village of Villers-Bretonneux became famous in the fighting for Amiens (16km to the west) right at the end of the War, but the Memorial with its spectacular tower was designed to commemorate the Australian dead with no known grave from the whole period 1914-1918. Angus was killed on the Somme two years earlier.

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He was a farm servant, the son of James and Elspeth Mathewson, Bon Accord Downs, Borilla Siding, Queensland, Australia, but Fyvie was his birthplace. His brother Samuel George Mathewson also served with the Australian Imperial Force, and survived.

66. William MilnePrivate in the 14th Battalion, Australian Infantry, Service No. 745, died on 1st June 1915 as a result of wounds sustained in the Dardanelles fighting. Buried in Beach Cemetery, Anzac, overlooking Anzac Cove.

The eight month Gallipoli campaign was fought by Commonwealth and French forces in an attempt to force Turkey out of the war, to relieve the deadlock of the Western Front in France and Belgium, and to open a supply route to Russia via the Dardanelles and the Black Sea.William Milne was born in Fyvie, the son of William Cosmo Gordon Milne and his wife Mary, Hillhead of Peterwell, and died at the age of 28. His brother Douglas

was another casualty - see Record No. 67 below. Another brother Lachlan served with theNew Zealand forces and survived the War, although he died soon after in 1925. A third brother, Arthur, was also lost in the War, but we know this only from the family gravestone in Fyvie Churchyard; his army records have not yet been traced.

67. Douglas MilnePrivate in the Wellington Regiment of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, 1st Battalion, Service Number 29442. He was killed at Messines on 9th June 1917, exactly one year to the day after his arrival in France. His grave is in the Bailleul Communal Cemetery Extension. Bailleul is a town in France, just over the border from Belgium and about 14km from Ypres. It became an important transportation and hospital centre, and many casualty clearing stations were based there for long periods.Douglas Milne died on the second day of the week long Battle of Messines, a major battle of the latter part of the war designed to deprive the Germans of the Messines ridge overlooking Ypres. It was a prelude to the Third Battle of Ypres about a month later, and saw the use of many elements of what was, for the period, modern warfare - most notably the explosion of 19 huge mines tunnelled under the enemy positions, just before the main assault. Of the 215,000 British and Allied troops committed, 24,500 were casualties in less than two weeks.

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Douglas was a dairy farmer, who had emigrated to New Zealand with his brother Lachlan in 1913. He was 26 at the time of his death. Lachlan also served with the NZEF in France, but he survived. Their brother William was another casualty - see Record No. 66 above. Another brother served with the New Zealand forces and survived the War, although he died soon after in 1925. A fourth brother, Arthur, was also lost in the War, but we know this only from the family gravestone in Fyvie Churchyard; his army records have not yet been traced.

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Fyvie Casualties not on Fyvie Memorial

In the course of our researches, we have come across several individuals who had Fyvie connections, but who are not listed on Fyvie War Memorial. In most cases there is a simple explanation - for example, a man born in Fyvie, but survived by his wife living in another town or village, may well be commemorated on the Memorial of that parish. Some are less obvious, but in any case the names are listed here for the sake of completeness.In the Fyvie Roll of Honour, which forms part of the War Book of Turriff and Twelve Miles Round, there are 6 names which do not appear on the Fyvie Memorial :

Henry SimpsonThere is a date discrepancy, but probably Private, 1st Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, Service No. 828. A regular soldier, went to France at the outset with the British Expeditionary Force and became a prisoner of war after the fighting at Mons. He died in Sennelager Camp on 11th March 1915, and is buried in Niederzwehren Cemetery. This cemetery, at Hassel in central Germany, was originally only for the local POW camp, but after the Armistice it became one of four cemeteries where the burials from local camp cemeteries all over Germany were concentrated - including 32 from Sennelager. It is possible that this man - born Auchterless, enlisted at Turriff - is simply entered in the wrong section of the War Book.

Charles LowPrivate, 1st Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders, Service No. S/17210 died 5th November 1917, and listed on the Basra Memorial in Iraq. This memorial lists the missing in all operations in Mesopotamia throughout the whole of the War period. In 1997 it was moved stone by stone to a safer location, because of the more modern conflict, and the unstable conditions of the area mean that it is still not maintained by the CWGC to their usual high standards.Charles Low was born in Tarves, the son of Mr and Mrs Charles Low, and was 26 when he died. He is mentioned on the family gravestone in Fyvie Churchyard.

James Gavin Smith RenniePrivate, 7th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, Service No. S/18518 died 14th April 1918, and is listed on the Ploegsteert Memorial, to the south of Ypres on the road to Messines. His father was Alexander Rennie, farmer of Steinmanhill, and James was 31 when he was killed.

Elizabeth Cassie RoseAssistant, Navy and Army Canteen Board, died 23rd September 1918. The NACB was the forerunner of the NAAFI (created 1921) as a provider of bars and canteens and shops for all the serving troops. These essential services had to expand at the same rate as the armed forces from 1914 on, and their personnel served both at home and abroad.Elizabeth ("Lizzie") Rose was born in Fyvie, the daughter of William and Christina Rose of Upper Bairnsdale, Fyvie. Her death certificate tells us that she had bronchial pneumonia resulting from influenza - she was therefore one of the victims of the 1918/1919 flu epidemic which killed around 250,000 people in the UK, and over 50 million worldwide.Elizabeth's brother Robert also died in the War and is named on the Fyvie Memorial. See Record No. 39. She had worked as a Private Mental Nurse before the War, and she was 28 when she died.

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Charles GibsPrivate, The Seaforth HighlandersNo exact correspondence in CWGC records for this name. One possible Gibb, one possible Gibson, but without a date there is no cross-check.

A. SmithFrom the War Book of Turriff and Twelve Miles Round, we know that A. Smith was a private in the 5th Gordon Highlanders, killed at Beaumont Hamel on 13th November 1916. With this information, a search of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records shows a singular coincidence : two Gordon Highlanders killed on the same day and buried two rows apart in the same cemeteryA D Smith, Private, 6th Battalion, Service No. 14095, killed 13th November 1916 and buried in Mailly Wood Cemetery, Mailly-MailletA O Smith, Private, 5th Battalion, Service No. 2506, killed 13th November 1916 and buried in Mailly Wood Cemetery, Mailly-MailletNeither record gives the age at death, which can often be a helpful identifier.There is, however, one extra piece of information in the CWGC records, that A D Smith's father was C Smith of Fraserburgh. This does not necessarily mean that there was not a Fyvie connection, so either man remains a possibility.We do know, however, that he is not the Alexander Smith (one of 3 brothers) discussed in Record No. 42, because that man certainly died on a quite different date.

The War Book of Turriff and Twelve Miles Round lists, parish by parish, every person who served in the War, casualty or not - or at least, every person for whom the family returned the information form which was distributed. People who had no family still in Fyvie, or who did not wish to complete the return, would not appear in the list.In all 275 persons are listed for Fyvie, which is a remarkable contribution from a small parish. And we have already named 73 of these who gave their lives.The others did not, of course, escape unscathed - the list is a terrible catalogue of wounds (often multiple), gassing, blinding, loss of limbs and periods of imprisonment by the enemy. In many cases, the disablement would have limited their capacity for work, and the effects of gas in particular shortened life span. The mental effects would have been long-lasting and incalculable.For many of the casualties the age at death is noted in the pages above, for 59 men in all from the total. From these ages can be calculated an average age of under 23. Forty-seven were aged 25 or under, and only 3 were over 30. The impact on the parish, not only as the news of each death came in, but for many years afterwards, was clearly massive.

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Casualties, Fyvie Parish ChurchyardFyvie Churchyard is officially a War Cemetery listed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, with 6 listed graves including 5 from the First World War. The five are :Peter Beaton - Record No. 24 aboveLockhart B. Gordon - Record No. 25 aboveRobert P. Rose - Record No. 39 aboveGeorge Wilson - Record No. 51 aboveWilliam Wright - See below

Several families chose to list First World War casualties on Fyvie Churchyard gravestones which included other family members, and for some it is the only local lead we have. Usually, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records can fill in the military record details.One man does not appear on Fyvie War Memorial, in the War Book of Turriff and Twelve Miles Round, or in the Roll of Honour, but he has a gravestone of the CWGC style in Fyvie Parish Churchyard.

William WrightPrivate, 5th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, Service No. 3466, died 17th February 1916. Nothing else is known and without age or other information it is difficult to go further. One record does indicate that Peterhead was his home town, and that he died "at home", but this does not explain the location of his grave at Fyvie.

Another interesting panel on a gravestone in Fyvie Churchyard commemorates two brothers, both officers and both recipients of the Military Cross, who are not mentioned elsewhere. The two men are :Gerald Patrick Manson, Captain, 6th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry. Killed near Ypres on 24th August 1917 and commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial. Holder of the Military Cross. Son of John Manson and his wife Isabella, grandson of Reverend John Manson, minister at Fyvie from 1829 to 1872. Aged 20 when killed.Claude Charles Manson, Second Lieutenant, Indian Army Reserve of Officers, attached 1st Battalion, 4th Gurkha Rifles. Killed at Gallipolli on 4th December 1915 and commemorated on the Helles Memorial which looks out over all the sea traffic going up through the Dardanelles. Holder of the Military Cross. Son of John Manson and his wife Isabella, grandson of Reverend John Manson, minister at Fyvie from 1829 to 1872. Aged 20 when killed.The panel at Fyvie is on one side of the impressive monument to their grandfather, which also lists their parents. They themselves had no direct connection to Fyvie beyond their grandparents - they were educated in Edinburgh then at Clifton College Bristol, while their father was abroad in the Indian Civil Service. It is probable that the inscription on the Fyvie gravestone was arranged by their mother, or their younger siblings George and Nanette.(A third brother, John Adrian Manson, who also served throughout the First World War and died in 1957 as a result of wounds received in the Second World War, is also mentioned.)

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Another family gravestone in Fyvie Churchyard gives us the name of Joseph Coutts, Private, 8th Field Ambulance, Canadian Army Medical Corps, Service No. 530189, died of wounds near Boulogne on 16th December 1917 and buried in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery.His peacetime occupation was salesman, before enlisting at Calgary, Alberta. He was the son of James and Isabella Coutts, of Cairnorrie, Methlick, Aberdeenshire, and he was 33 when he died. His name appears on the War Memorial Tablet in Methlick Church.

On another family gravestone in Fyvie Churchyard we find the only local memorial mention of George Burr, of Bodiechell Farm, Cuminestown. A native of Fyvie he was a Private, 11th Battalion, Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment), Service No. 30411, and was killed in action on 30th July 1916. This was only 6 months after he was called up, and while he was still only 19 years old. With no known grave, he is listed on the wall of the Thiepval Memorial.

David Allan McDonald is another of the fallen whose only known Fyvie connection is his family gravestone in Fyvie churchyard. He was a Private in 5th Battalion, Gordon Highlanders, Service No. S/18611. His service did not start until July 1917, but he was present at the Battle of Cambrai in the same year. Near St Quentin, he was recorded as missing and presumed killed between 21st March 1918 and 2nd April 1918. His last resting place being unknown, he is recorded on the Pozières Memorial. This Memorial commemorates mainly the fallen of the difficult period in spring 1918, when the Allies were pushed back over the old Somme battlefields.

Charles Low is inscribed on his family gravestone in Fyvie Churchyard. See page 30 for his service details.

George Smith is known to us only from the gravestone in Fyvie Churchyard, where he is listed with his parents, Andrew and Susan Smith, of Asleid, Methlick, and his sister, Mary. His military record shows he was a Private, C Company, 11th Battalion, Royal Scots, Service No. 40077. He was killed at Vimy Ridge on 3rd May 1917, and is commemorated in France on the Arras Memorial, with no known grave.

Arthur Milne is known to us only from the family gravestone of his parents William Cosmo Gordon Milne and his wife Mary, of Hillhead of Peterwell, Fyvie. The gravestone also records the deaths of the two sons William and Douglas - see Records Nos. 66 and 67 - without noting that they were War deaths, and the 1925 death of son Lachlan, who served but survived. Arthur (who we know was born in Fyvie on 13th January 1887) is recorded as "Lost in the Great War" without date. The CWGC records have no satisfactory match, so for the moment there is no other information.

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Woodhead School War MemorialQuite a large proportion of the Fyvie casualties had lived and been educated in the Woodhead part of the parish - 19 men in all. For this reason the headmaster of Woodhead School took the lead in organising a memorial tablet in the school for the fallen former pupils.It was completed and unveiled well before the main Fyvie Memorial, and this article from the Aberdeen Journal of 31st May 1919 records the unveiling ceremony.

The second image is a recent photo of the plaque, more easily read. For the detailed entry on each man see pp. 5 - 30.

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The War Book of Turriff and Twelve Miles RoundShortly after the end of the War, in 1921, the Turriff and District Ex- Servicemen's Association decided to create a record of every man and woman who had served in the conflict, together with some of their personal reminiscences.They commissioned John Minto Robertson, a Classics Teacher and himself an ex-soldier, to compile the lists and edit the book, which was eventually published in 1926. Originally intended to cover only Turriff and the immediate surroundings, the work expanded to include all the parishes of the Presbytery of Turriff, except Macduff (for which a record had already been published).The method used was to circulate a questionnaire to every household, requesting details on men and women who served, with units, rank, theatre of service, medals, wounds, and date of death for those who did not survive. In consequence, some records are missing

or contain errors, simply because there was no surviving family, or at least none still in thearea. However, some respondents gave a lot of additional information about the service career of the subject.J. Minto Robertson recognises in his foreword that the record cannot be 100% complete, and he also points out that the book does not recognise the valuable contribution to the war effort made by many men and women who were not called up. It was decided, however, that the scope would be limited to service in uniform. Interestingly - and perhaps a sign of one of the social changes brought about by the War - equal treatment is accorded to officers and other ranks. The Roll of Honour is by date order of death, not by seniority of rank.Although copies remain in private hands, and indeed are occasionally offered for sale on the Internet, you are most likely to be able to consult the book in the public libraries of Aberdeen or Turriff. To give an idea of the scale, entries exist for 2,670 individuals from the 16 parishes covered. And the Rolls of Honour list 597 of the 2,670 who failed to return. Robertson points out that this is nearly one in four, but could be a worse proportion - 151 men left from Monquhitter, and 48 were killed.

In our document, we have tried to bring together as much information as possible. There is therefore a difference between the 61 names on the Fyvie Roll of Honour in Robertson's book, and the total of which we have at least some knowledge of a Fyvie connection - 67 on the Memorial, 6 more on the Roll of Honour and 8 names found on family gravestones in Fyvie Churchyard, and not elsewhere.

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